1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projector for projecting images onto a screen or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a projector is known in which, based on image data from a personal computer, a video camera and the like, images are formed by an image forming element, and the formed images are projected onto a screen or the like. This kind of image projector comprises a lamp unit for projecting light and an image projection unit for projecting the images formed by the image forming unit, using the light from the lamp unit.
The lamp unit has such structure that a lamp body is held in a lamp holder. The lamp unit is detachably mounted on a body of the projector so as to make it possible to replace the lamp body when the lamp body becomes unusable due to its degradation or reaching its life. Usually, a material such as resin is used for the lamp holder, but this may cause the following problem. While the lamp is on, the inside of the lamp holder is heated to a high temperature. Accordingly, if low heat-resistant resin is used for the material, there is a possibility that out gas is produced from the resin, and adheres to a color wheel, thereby drastically decreasing e.g. the brightness and contrast of light projected onto a screen. To solve this problem, a conventional lamp holder uses a high heat-resistant material such as LCP (Liquid Crystal Polyester). However, even using LCP to form a lamp holder, the out gas is produced to some extent. On the other hand, if an expensive LCP is used as a material for the lamp holder, the material cost of the lamp holder increases.